HTC Peep Not Working? This Is Why September 1st, 2010
A lot of people will be waking up this morning and finding that they are unable to login to Twitter via HTC Peep on their Desires, confusingly your device will report that you have entered an incorrect username or password combination even though you have not made any changes. The truth is that owing to a behind the scenes change to the Twitter APIs, HTC Peep is no longer compatible and more than likely won’t be for some time.
It’s been common knowledge for some time that Twitter has decided to move away from basic authentication to OAuth for all third party apps; it makes sense that some of the older Twitter clients would be affected by this but you’d have thought HTC would have had the foresight to release an update prior to today, especially given that the switchover date has already been put back previously. I wonder just how many people will be scratching their heads today trying to figure out why HTC Peep isn’t working, not realising that it’s actually a fundamental problem that they will not be able to resolve, no matter how many times they re-enter their details or reboot their devices.
In honesty HTC Peep is actually a pretty poor client anyway; it does the job if you are after a simple Twitter client but it has been left behind feature wise compared to other apps freely available such as Twidroyd, Seesmic or TweetDeck (though still in Beta, this is by far the best Twitter client around in my opinion, you can download from here). Of course if you have flashed a custom ROM onto your Desire already chances are you are not using HTC Peep so this will not affect you; certainly if you are using one of the many vanilla ROMs available you’ll probably be sat at home reading this having a little chuckle to yourself. If not, perhaps this is the excuse you need to delve into custom ROMs and ditch HTC Sense.
Update 02/09/2010 08:30
Here’s an official release from Twitter which I recieved in my inbox overnight; though not effected with the HTC Peep issues myself, frustrating that they only made this public annoucement a full day after the problem manifested itself:
Hi @mikesouthby,
Over the coming weeks, we will be making two important updates that will impact how you interact with Twitter applications. We are sending this notice to all Twitter users to make sure you are aware of these changes.
What are applications?
There are over 250,000 applications built using the Twitter API. To use most applications, you first authorize the application to access your Twitter account, after which you can use it to read and post Tweets, discover new users and more. Applications come in many varieties, including desktop applications like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, websites such as TweetMeme, fflick, or Topsy, or mobile applications such as Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry, or Foursquare.
Update 1: New authorization rules for applications
Starting August 31, all applications will be required to use “OAuth” to access your Twitter account.
What’s OAuth?
OAuth is a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on your behalf with your approval without asking you directly for your password.
- Desktop and mobile applications may still ask for your password once, but after that request, they are required to use OAuth in order to access your timeline or allow you to tweet.
What does this mean for me?
- Applications are no longer allowed to store your password.
- If you change your password, the applications will continue to work.
- Some applications you have been using may require you to reauthorize them or may stop functioning at the time of this change.
- All applications you have authorized will be listed at http://twitter.com/settings/connections.
- You can revoke access to any application at any time from the list.
Update 2: t.co URL wrapping
In the coming weeks, we will be expanding the roll-out of our link wrapping service t.co, which wraps links in Tweets with a new, simplified link. Wrapped links are displayed in a way that is easier to read, with the actual domain and part of the URL showing, so that you know what you are clicking on. When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we then will forward you on to the destination URL. All of that should happen in an instant.
You will start seeing these links on certain accounts that have opted-in to the service; we expect to roll this out to all users by the end of the year. When this happens, all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps will be wrapped with a t.co URL.
What does this mean for me?
- A really long link such as http://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446563048 might be wrapped as http://t.co/DRo0trj for display on SMS, but it could be displayed to web or application users as amazon.com/Delivering- or as the whole URL or page title.
- You will start seeing links in a way that removes the obscurity of shortened links and lets you know where each link will take you.
- When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time.
Thanks for reading this important update. Come and check what’s new at http://twitter.com.
Thanks,
The Twitter Team
It will be interesting to see how long it takes HTC to factor in the new OAuth requirement and release an update; watch this space for news!
Tags: htc, peep, Sense, tweetdeck, twitter
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 10:17 am and is filed under Android OS, Announcements, Blah, Desire, G1, Google, HTC, Technology Related. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
26 Responses
Unable to log into HTC Peep - Android Forums Says:
[...] is because HTC Peep is no longer compatible with the new OAuth Twitter API authentication: HTC Peep Not Working? This Is Why… | Mike Southby TweetDeck is far better [...]
Tweets that mention HTC Peep Not Working? This Is Why… | Mike Southby -- Topsy.com Says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by sebastiaantheunissen, Mike Southby. Mike Southby said: Blog post: HTC Peep Not Working? This Is Why… http://bit.ly/9nSIqT #htc #peep #twitter #tweetdeck [...]
An English Shooters Blog » Blog Archive » HTC Peep is down Says:
[...] is down, it looks like it is being reported all over the web as an issue with the program PEEP and http://www.mikesouthby.co.uk/2010/09/htc-peep-not-working-this-is-why/ so come on HTC get a wiggle on and fix this. Bookmark It Hide [...]
J Says:
Mike,
THANK YOU.
I have been resetting my Evo and clearing the cache once or twice an hour since yesterday afternoon trying to get Peep accept my login. I’ve been thinking about ditching Peep for another client anyway, I just liked how the Sense version has built-in custom alerts for DMs and the like. Since the Sense version of FB was laid to waste with the new FB for Android update, I think I may just ditch Sense altogether.
Thanks for the helpful input!
Mike Southby Says:
No worries, for reference I have used Seesmic, Twidroyd and TweetDeck and all of them have alerts of DMs etc., personally I’m a fan of TweetDeck as it combines both Facebook and Twitter in one client; well actually Foursquare and Buzz too if you want.
TweetDeck is still in public beta so can only imagine when they finally release a finished product it’s going to be immense.
I must admit I thought I would miss Sense when I changed to a vanilla ROM (OpenDesire) but haven’t looked back; much prefer the notification system without Sense and it’s faster! Of course, there are a few things that I miss from Sense but not enough to turn back :)
Maggie Says:
Hi Mike,
As a new owner of a Desire I’m a novice when it comes to ‘vanilla’ and the such. What are the main difference between having sense and not? what would I lose and what would I gain?
And last of all how do I do it?
TIA
Maggie x
Mike Southby Says:
Hi Maggie, no problem we all had to start somewhere on the journey!
Losing Sense means that you would not have the usual HTC applications such as HTC Peep and the HTC dialer, but also the HTC customisations; so for example you would lose the black notification bar in favour of the default Android version, different notification icons etc. In essence everything that is ‘HTC’ on your phone would be gone.
However, there are variations. The whole point of custom ROMs is that you can ‘cook’ into them anything you wish. Custom ROMs therefore are based on either an original ‘vanilla’ ROM or the official HTC Sense ROM but with applications and features added or removed as necessary. You are also able to add and remove apps far easier then you would be able to with an official ROM as your device would be rooted. So if you for example want to remove certain apps, you can. If you want to add any that aren’t available from the market, you can; it’s really a case of having your device exactly how you want it instead of being stuck with the ROM HTC ‘think’ you should have. I hope that makes sense.
What would you gain? the most important thing is performance, as the ROMs are customised, they have all the bits that bog a system down removed, tweeks are then applied and the end result is a much faster device.
I could write an entire post about all the differences, if you want to anything specific, please ask :)
Mike Southby Says:
Forgot to ask, if you are thinking of ditching Sense, what network operator are you with now, and what version of Android are you using?
For specific help with custom ROMs and Sense, post a comment on the thread at the bottom of the link underneath, there is a lot more information specific to what I think you want there.
Clare Dibble Says:
I have had my Desire for 2 weeks – until then had always had a nokia. Like Maggie I am a novice so was delighted to find this site to get news of the latest Twitter problem. I use Tweetdeck on my PC – can you give me step by step instruction to download and use it on my Desire?
Thanks in advance
Clare
Mike Southby Says:
Clare, of course. I’ll post a guide with step by step instructions later today.
Clare Dibble Says:
Thank you
Mike Southby Says:
As requested: http://www.mikesouthby.co.uk/2010/09/tweetdeck-for-android-step-by-step/
Michael Says:
Hi Mike
Oh why didnt I find this before resetting my phone – Doh!
Without Peep I can now do away with HTC sense as I only kept it for the friend stream
I am on Three and have the latest update 2.2 I think
How would I remove HTC Sense from my desire?
Thanks in advance and you are now added to my bookmarks
Michael
Mike Southby Says:
Do you know which HBOOT, firmware and radio versions you have; also is your device an AMOLED or sLCD version?
No worries if you are not sure about any of these, either myself or someone else can point you in the right direction for finding it out. it’s important to know exactly where your device is in this respect before moving forward as there are lots of different combinations of things to do.
Dandapani Says:
Not sure I agree about Tweetdeck. I just d/l the Beta on my Incredible and it is pretty bland. The Twitter brand Android ap is pretty full featured. Incorporates twitpic natively. Much better than Peep and better looking than Tweetdeck.
Mike Southby Says:
That’s fair enough; the TweetDeck interface isn’t going to appeal to everyone. Life would be boring if we all liked the same things ;)
I’d have to disagree about it not be as fully featured as others though, the difference is that you cannot change as much, it “just works”. For example TweetDeck has yfrog integration but doesn’t give you any options, it takes care of it all automatically for you. I used the official Twitter application for a while, once the novelty of the little birds and trends on the home screen wore off it was no better featured than any of the other mainstream clients; Seesmic or Twidroyd for example. I also didn’t like the way that it randomly forgot my position on the timeline and I’d forever have to scroll back to find where I was. Then there is the Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz integration. As I said, TweetDeck will not appeal to all just as one brand of car doesn’t appeal to all but I challenge any other client currently out there to top the multi platform, multi network support.
Mike Southby Says:
Well, it would seem from HTC UK’s Facebook update over the weekend that HTC Peep is now ‘fixed’ and will work once again; I am unable to test this though as it is not installed on my Desire. However, I’m still getting a lot of hits via Google with folk searching for variations of ‘HTC Peep not working’, so it would seem that all is not as well as suggested.
Does your Peep work again? …or are HTC telling a few porkies!
Paul Ison Says:
Mike,
Peep started working again but only for incoming tweets.
On my Desire I can’t send tweets. Getting ‘unknown message from server’ errors so have reloaded Twitter app for now.
It’s a nuisance having to waste precious memory space on apps that duplicate in-built functionality.
Mike Southby Says:
Thanks Paul, so it would seem HTC are being a little optimistic with their comments! Be interesting to see just how long it takes to fully resolve.
Parm Says:
Hi Mike, I have the HTC Hd2 (windows mobile) and the Peep is still not working as of now. I see you have some solutions for Desire users but do you have anything to help for us poor old HD2 users re twitter? I can acess it via my webbrowser but that kinda defeats the purpose of having a twitter app!
KR
Parm
Mike Southby Says:
Parm, I’m sorry I don’t. I used to own an HD2 but changed to a Desire when they were released as I much prefer Android over Windows Mobile.
Have you thought about flashing one of the Android ROMs.. It wasn’t possible when I had mine but I know this is achievable now.
Sorry I can’t be more help.
Roger Says:
For you HD2 guys that have problems, Stork is an alternative. Costs $1 from Marketplace.
Works like a charm.
Mike Southby Says:
Thanks Roger, that’s useful to know for those HD2 users.
Miikae Says:
Hi all, where can i download Stork from as having no Peep on my HD2 is driving me man.
Mike
Roger Says:
Miikae: Start Marketplace, search for Stork or browse to Categories>Social Networks. If you’re not in the US and cannot find the app, you might have to change market region by going to Menu > Settings > Choose region for catalogue > United States – English.
Miikae Says:
Thanks Roger, I am in the UK, will have a look now to see if i can find it, I did find and download PocketTwit and that seems to be working fine but has its limitations.
Mike
